How to make flat film?

Now that I have 3 rolls under my belt, I'm going to prepare and ship off my film for scanning. My films are not as flat as they could be and I fear that my resulting scans will be of poor quality due to that fact.

What is the best procedure to make the negatives as flat as can be? I am taking my dry negatives, placing them in the plastic storage holder and then putting them under a book and then putting some weight on them (4 kg).

“Photography is a complex and fluid medium, and its many factors are not applied in simple sequence. Rather, the process may be likened to the art of the juggler in keeping many balls in the air at one time!”

Ansel Adams, from the introduction to The Negative - The New Ansel Adams Photography Series / Book 2

I reverse roll the film -- against the curl -- after it has dried, and let it sit a coupla days. This not only removes the curl along the long axis, but also the curl that you get in a dry climate when the emulsion shrinks a titch and pulls the edges up together -- utah is very dry and some films do this a lot.

I reverse roll the film -- against the curl -- after it has dried, and let it sit a coupla days. This not only removes the curl along the long axis, but also the curl that you get in a dry climate when the emulsion shrinks a titch and pulls the edges up together -- utah is very dry and some films do this a lot.

Now that I have 3 rolls under my belt, I'm going to prepare and ship off my film for scanning. My films are not as flat as they could be and I fear that my resulting scans will be of poor quality due to that fact.

What is the best procedure to make the negatives as flat as can be? I am taking my dry negatives, placing them in the plastic storage holder and then putting them under a book and then putting some weight on them (4 kg).

I just started this so I'm unsure if this will be enough.

Thanks for all the tips!

The way you dry the films contributes to how curved the film will be and which way it will curve.

Spiralled up like a clock spring = nothing you can do, it's the manufacturer's fault. You can try hanging heavier weights on the film, whilst it is hung up to dry, but it is not by any means a complete cure..